Return to sender? Neighbors find huge alligator sitting by their mailbox on NC island
Some neighbors on North Carolina’s Oak Island got the worst kind of special delivery this week, when a large alligator showed up at their mailboxes.
It was estimated to be between 9 and 10 feet, and apparently looking for something.
The Lewis family shared a photo of the predicament Wednesday on Facebook, noting: “This was found out by our mailbox this morning.” Oak Island is south of Wilmington, along the Intracoastal Waterway.
Warren A. Lewis says the alligator was spotted at 6:30 a.m. by a neighbor, who alerted everyone else via text (with a photo). It stuck around for hours, part of which was spent hiding under someone’s truck in their carport, Lewis wrote.
“My family has had this house for 57 years. I have lived here full time for almost six. This is the first time I have seen one in person,” Lewis wrote.
“Neighbor’s cat got right up to the nose of this lizard, but had the good sense to back away before he became breakfast.”
Commenters on his post offered plenty of ribbing, including “return to sender” puns and jokes about the alligator waiting for its stimulus check.
“I bet you won’t get any mail today,” one woman posted.
“Maybe it’s your new mailman?” another said.
A video of the alligator’s capture was posted the same day on YouTube by Adventure Outdoors. It shows the alligator was in someone’s front yard when it lost a tug-of-war with two cops and a state wildlife officer.
“The reports I heard was the gator had walked the entire NE 65th St. from the waterway and went under a resident’s pickup truck and that’s when authorities began the capture,” Adventure Outdoors reported.
The alligator fought by rolling violently in the grass, the video shows. However, it was eventually dragged by rope into a long tube, and hauled away on a trailer by state wildlife officers.
It appeared to have something in its mouth, the video reports. However, that unlucky object was never identified.
This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Return to sender? Neighbors find huge alligator sitting by their mailbox on NC island."